server/database advice

Setting up a half-dozen database driven sites on a Windows 2000 Advanced server, and I need some advice on what type of set up to use. I have very limited experience with MySQL, but would SQL Server be easier to work with? Perhaps there is something else that I'm not aware of that might be even better?

If you have more experience with SQL server, and the resources to run it for all those web sites, it might be a better solution for you than MySql. Mysql is free of course, which is an advantage, but SQL server definitely has some advantages over Mysql. So, it also depends a lot on the requirements of these web sites.

SQL server is VERY expensive... but does have some advantages over MySQL server. What I would use is PostgreSQL since it offers the same stability and more-or-less the same features as MS SQL. You can run PostgreSQL via Cygwin and many people do this. There is a native windows version of PostgreSQL but it is still in beta form.